Venerable Vancouver nightclub Roxy Cabaret is suing large Granville Street land owner Bonnis Properties, for work Bonnis allegedly initiated that caused damage to the Roxy Cabaret's building, forcing the venue to close for six weeks in spring 2022.
The Roxy Cabaret alleges in its March 7 notice of civil claim that Bonnis, in March 2022, launched a project to demolish its Bonnis Building, which was adjacent to the Roxy Cabaret and had addresses that included 942, 952 and 968 Granville Street.
Bonnis' plan, the lawsuit alleges, was to redevelop its property and build a four-storey, mixed-use structure.
Bonnis retained DBS Construction Ltd. as its general contractor, and DBS is also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit. The other defendants include Tham Demolition Ltd., ABC Contractor #1 and ABC Contractor #2. Tham Demolition is named in the lawsuit because the Roxy Cabaret and its co-plaintiffs allege that either Bonnis or DBS retained Tham Demolition to be a subcontractor. ABC Contractor #1 and ABC Contractor #2 are unknown contractors on the project.
"On or about March 24, 2022, Tham or, in the alternative, ABC Contractor #2 was performing the demolition work at or near the north wall of the Bonnis Building when it caused equipment to impact, or crash into the south wall of the building, causing physical damage to the building," the Roxy Cabaret alleges.
"As a result of the incident, the City of Vancouver required the Roxy to close the nightclub until necessary repairs were completed. The repairs were promptly completed by approximately May 5, 2022. On or about May 6, 2022, the Roxy reopened the nightclub and resumed its business operations. The period of business interruption was approximately six weeks."
The Roxy Cabaret alleges that as a result of the incident, it has suffered loss, damage and expense.
Costs include emergency and temporary repairs to the building, permanent repairs to the building and expenses related to storing contents during repairs to the building, the Roxy Cabaret alleges. It added that other costs included investigative, consulting and adjusting costs, business interruption losses, loss of revenue, uninsured losses and loss due to insurance or self-retention deductibles. It said in its lawsuit that there may be other costs related to damage that is not yet known.
The lawsuit lists Landco 932 Properties Ltd. as being the owner of the Roxy Cabaret building, and Landco is a co-plaintiff. Another co-plaintiff is Granville Entertainment Corp., which is the Roxy Cabaret's business manager.
The plaintiffs did not specify how much compensation they want. Instead, their lawsuit seeks general and special damages plus interest, costs and other relief that the court deems just.
"As the owner of the Bonnis Building and the developer of the project, Bonnis owed a duty of care to the plaintiffs to exercise the degree of care, skill diligence and competence necessary in all the circumstances so as to ensure that the demolition work would not cause damage to the building," the plaintiffs say in their lawsuit.
No response to the notice of civil claim has yet been filed. BIV phoned and texted Bonnis Properties principal Kerry Bonnis but did not get a response.
None of the allegations has been proven in court.
